The RealNet Canada Inc. sales stats for the GTA housing market in September reveal the solid state of the GTA high-rise housing market and confirm some interesting trends as well.
While high-rise unit sales were off a modest 16 per cent from last September’s torrid pace, there were still 1,658 units sold, which is a great month by any standard. More significantly, total high-rise unit sales through the first three quarters of 2010 are up a whopping 59 per cent. With nearly 14,000 high-rise condo suites sold so far this year, the high-rise condo market in the GTA is living up to its status as the most active market in North America.
As for the trends, high-rise sales represented 61 per cent of the overall GTA new housing market in September, well above the new normal 50/50 split. Put differently, sales of low-rise (single-detached, semi-detached, town-home) product accounted for under 40 per cent of the market in September. Through the first nine months of the year, the market has split 53 per cent high-rise, 47 per cent low-rise.
What’s even more interesting is that 29 per cent of all the high-rise sales in September happened outside the City of Toronto, primarily in York and Peel Regions, namely Mississauga and Markham. Normally, the 416 area-code accounts for 80 per cent of high-rise sales with 20 per cent going to the Regions. But in July, nearly half (46 per cent) of high-rise sales were in the 905 Regions.
As municipalities finally achieve conformity with the Greater Golden Horseshoe Growth Plan, I fully expect the trend towards more and more high-rise development in the 905to be the most significant development in the GTA new housing market in the years to come.
